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Jewish cemetery behind the Mound of Glory in Mozyr (Belarus)

In the city of Mozyr (the Republic of Belarus) behind the Mound of Glory there is an old cemetery. Just right here the old Jewish burial grounds are located.

The beginning of the burials in the old cemetery coincides with the beginning of the Second World War, however, very often on gravestones we can see dates that are several decades or even several centuries older than the date of the foundation of the cemetery. The reason for this is the reburial of Jews from the places of their mass death. Many graves have two nameplates and are dated from the beginning of the XIX century. These people were buried to their relatives, acquaintances, neighbors or simply representatives of the Jewish community of Mozyr from the places of mass graves and common graves, which were later destroyed.

Previously, Mozyr was half-settled by Jews. Since the 70-ies several old cemeteries have been demolished. Earlier, one of the Jewish burial places was in the area of Ryzhkov and Pushkin Street in the territory of the modern lyceum and its stadium near the store "Econom". Now on that place stands a monument to the Jews, who secretly hid from the German invaders and were destroyed during the Great Patriotic War. Similar burials were transferred from the territory of the modern school №4, from the natural boundary Romashov Rov (modern courtroom), from Pushkin street 44A (former Jewish prison), river station, out from under buildings on Kirov Street.

A huge part of the Jewish cemetery is abandoned. Because no one was looking after the graves for a long time, many monuments are partially destroyed. Since 2012, representatives of the Jewish community and activists of the city began to revive the old Jewish cemetery. As a result, hundreds of graves were cleaned and cleared of bushes, dozens of old trees were manually cut down, which could collapse and crush the tombstones at any moment into small pieces, depriving the Jewish people of the memory of their ancestors.

The Jewish cemetery in Mozyr is slowly acquiring a proper appearance, but there is still a lot of work to be done before its full restoration.